Farmers in Punjab and Haryana squatted on rail tracks on Monday morning as part of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha's six-hour 'rail roko' protest demanding the dismissal and arrest of Union Minister Ajay Mishra in connection with the Lakhimpur Kheri violence.

The stir disrupted the movement of trains in both the states, causing inconvenience to passengers who could be seen waiting for long hours with their baggage.

People who received a first dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine followed by an mRNA vaccine shot had a lower risk of infection compared to those immunised with both doses of the AstraZeneca preventive, according to a nationwide study in Sweden.

Since the use of AstraZeneca's vector-based vaccine against COVID-19 was halted for people younger than 65 years of age due to safety concerns, all individuals in Sweden who had already received their first dose of this vaccine were recommended an mRNA vaccine as their second dose.

India added 13,596 new coronavirus infections taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 3,40,81,315, while the active cases declined to 1,89,694, the lowest in 221 days, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Monday.

The death toll climbed to 4,52,290 with 166 fresh fatalities, according to the data updated at 8 am.

Shares of HCL Technologies (HCL Tech) were down 2 per cent at Rs 1,225 on profit booking on the BSE on Monday in an otherwise strong market after the management reiterated its guidance of double-digit USD revenue growth and 19-21 per cent earnings before interest tax (EBIT) margin for FY22, although it lowered its Products and Platforms (P&P) growth to 0-1 per cent from low-single digits.

HCL Tech announced a payout policy, which fixes payouts at minimum 75 per cent of net Income cumulatively over the next five years i.e FY22- 26.

Demanding the removal of Ajay Mishra ‘Teni’, the Union Minister of State (MoS) for Home Affairs, from the Union Cabinet over the Lakhimpur Kheri incident, the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) will hold a nationwide 'rail roko' agitation today.

The farmers' unions umbrella body will hold a six-hour-long nationwide agitation demanding justice in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence, in which Ajay Mishra's son Ashish Mishra Teni has been arrested.

Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan on Sunday became the highest wicket-taker in T20 International cricket when he pipped Lasith Malinga's tally of 107 wickets during their T20 World Cup game against Scotland here.

Shakib, the greatest ever cricketer from his country, finished with figures of 2/17 in four overs and in the process surpassed the Sri Lankan great's tally of T20 International wickets.

Expressing satisfaction over the pace of development work in Bahraich and Shravasti, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday said the people of both districts have elected representatives who are working towards the development of their area.

This is the reason why these two aspirational districts are getting directly benefitted from government schemes, Adityanath said.

The World Health Organization's technical advisory group will meet on October 26 to consider the Emergency Use Listing (EUL) of Covaxin, a vaccine developed by Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech protecting against COVID-19, the global health agency's chief scientist said on Sunday.

The technical advisory group will meet on Oct 26th to consider EUL for #Covaxin. @WHO has been working closely with @BharatBiotech to complete the dossier. Our goal is to have a broad portfolio of vaccines approved for emergency use and to expand access to populations everywhere, World Health Organization Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan said in a tweet on Sunday.

Shares of Avenue Supermarts, which owns and operates retail chain D-Mart, hit a new high of Rs 5,899.90 as they rallied 11 per cent on the BSE in Monday’s intra-day trade following its quarterly results. The company on Saturday reported a twofold increase in its consolidated net profit at Rs 417.76 crore for the second quarter ended September 2021 (Q2FY22). The company had posted a net profit of Rs 198.53 crore in Q2FY21.

In the past seven trading days, the stock has zoomed 40 per cent from the level of Rs 4,219 touched on October 6, 2021.

Ten gram of 24-carat gold was on Monday selling at Rs 48,070, unchanged from yesterday’s trading price. Silver was at Rs 63,360 per kg, according to the Good Returns website.

Gold jewellery price varies across India, the second-largest consumer of the metal, due to excise duty, state taxes, and making charges.

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